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-
December 14, 1984 • Vol. 15, No. 50
-
750 Outside of D.C./Baltimore Areas
THE GAY WEEKLY OF THE NATION'S CAPITAL
Ask As. Ago 11 Ilk AIM
11/111VP'S.116-'411111111111MLIIPLAINIIIM111111 1111\11P.7.11111111111
' GI ND I ill ! I 1111 ....11111111111L 11111 I= WI A I III 111.
Opponents dominate
Alexandria hearing
by Mark Sciitt
ALEXANDRIA, VA—More than 40
people signed up to testify before the
Alexandria Human Rights Commission last
night on whether the commission should
recommend that the,City Council adopt
non-discrimination protections for Gays
and Lesbians.
The majority of the 100 people who
attended the public hearing at City Hall
appeared to be opposed to including sexual
orientation in the human rights ordinance.
"If-we, in our city, put our approval on
such blatant sin, we will invoke the wrath of
God," said Alexandria resident Vicky
Garrett, drawing applause. Lawrence Pratt,
whti identified himself as a member of the
ComMittee to Protect the Family, said,
"Viewing homosexual rights as a civil rights
issue is a mistake. It is not a civil rights issue,
its a public health crisis?'
But others, including a -minister-and a
former human rights commission member, -
said Council should adopt the Gay. rights
protections.
"Ignorance about the nature of
community," said Rev. Rob Vaughn, pastor
of Alexandria's Beverly Hills United
Methodist Church. "Homosexual persons,
no less than heterosexual persons, are
persons of sacred worth. All persons are
entitled to have their full civil rights
confirmed."
The Coniinission will decide by next
month whether to recommend the changes
to Council. Last night's public hearing came
a month after the commission issued its
study on anti-Gay discrimination in the city.
That study revealed that most of the 107
Lesbians and Gay men polled in Alexandria
said they never experienced discrimination
of any kind based on their sexual
orientation. Close to one-fifth of the
respondents encountered discrimination in
seeking routine health care, restaurant
service, hotel or motel accommodations, or
in buying or renting a home. A majority of
the respondents, however, said they are not
openly Gay.
As of Blade deadline time, 15 people had
testified before the 12 commission members
present for the hearing. Five testified for the
homosexuality is prevalent in our bill, ten testified against.
Baltimore group targets
City Councilmember
-by Mark Scoft
Baltimore Lesbian and Gay activists
announced this week that they will picket
outside a City Council member's home
Sunday to demonstrate their anger over
Council's continued refusal to take action
on the long-delayed Gay rights bill.
Mardie Walker, co-coordinator of the
Baltimore Civil Rights Coalition for
CC187, which is spearheading support for
the bill, will gather Outside the home of
Councilmember Rikki Spector, an
outspoken opponent of the bill.
"We picked Spector," said Walker,
"because when we did a survey of Council,
she said she would vote for the bill, and now
she is one of the most vocal opponents. We
felt she should know better."
The bill, which would ban-anti-Gay
discrimination in employment, public
accommodations, education, and city
services, has been stuck in a Council
Apartheid protest forming 6
State Dept. OK on immigrants 6
Interview with David Leavitt ____ 19
MCC's Tgntasticks' success 19
Holiday family survival guide 23
subcommittee since May. Despite intensive
lobbying, Walker and Gay lobbyist Curt
Decker have been unable to persuade a
majority of the 19-member Council to
pledge support for the bill.
On December 3, Walker and about 25
activists disrupted a Council meeting
charging that Councilmember Tom Waxter
was deliberately stalling the bill in his
committee. Waxter denied the charge,
saying the bill does not yet have enough
support to pass, but Walker said she would
continue the public demonstration tactics if
the bill was not brought out of committee
for a vote by December 10. •
Council took no action on the bill at its
December 10 meeting.
"This [picketing of Spector's home] is an
escalation on our part which could
backfire," Walker said, "but we were just
tired of being rugs. This was the only thing
we could do that would not be illegal or
violent"
Decker said a strategy meeting between
him and Waxter last week was "just more of
the same—who we need and who we don't
have and so _forth."
Waxter made no promises to bring the
bill out by a certain date, Decker said.
Demos' Auction raises $6000
Washington Redskins football tickets
and an autographed copy of an enlarged
political cartoon of vice presidential
candidate Geraldine Ferraro were
among the most hotly contested items
sold at the annual fund-raising auction of
the National Association of Gay and
Lesbian Democratic Clubs, held
December 6 at Herb's Restaurant.
The auction drew over 180 people
and sold merchandise and services
amounting to about $7,500, according to
Jim Bennett, chairman of the auction.
Bennett said the National Association
made slightly more than $6,000 in profit
from the event
So pleased are the officials of the Gay
111011111111110Mmarmilmm..
Democratic activist Deacon Maccubbin volunteered his servkes as auctioneer at
last week's successful fund-raiser for the National Association IAGay and Lesbian
Democratic Clubs.
weekend stays at guest houses in Key
West, Florida.
Other items sold at the auction were a
45-minute consultation with a
psychologist, a framed copy of the
federal Gay rights bill, membership in a
video film club, two hours of
professional design and architectural
services by Uzzolo Design Services of
Washington, a Queen Ann style teapot
in pewter, and a set of six apertif glasses
from Bavaria.
The Ferraro cartoon, which was
framed and signed by the Congress-woman
from Queens, New York, drew
shouts and a furious waving of arms by
Gay men and Lesbians who answered
The National Association's executive committee
met in Fort Lauderdale last weekend.
—See story, page 5
Democrats' association over the sums
of the auction, said association co-chair
Jack Trujillo, that the group plans to
train its member clubs in various parts of
the country to sponsor similar auctions
on a regular basis.
Bennett said the main attraction of the
auction is the variety and novelty of the
merchandise and services, which are
donated by contributors and placed up
for bids by professional auctioneers, who
also donate their time and skilLs.
Among the services sold at the event,
for example, were lunches with several
members of Congress, a professional
body massage, a two-hour computer
consultation, and seven-night and
the calls from the auctioneer. The
cartoon was sold for $240.
Competition was equally intense for a
pair of tickets to the Washington
Redskins December 16 game against the
St. Louis Cardinals, which included free
parking. The tickets, donated by D.C.
City Councilwoman Betty Ann Kane,
were sold for $200.
Among the notables who agreed to
have lunch with auction participants
who placed the highest bid were
Representatives Julian Dixon (D-Ca.),
Henry Waxman (D-Ca.), Gerry Studds
(1)-Ma.), Barney Frank (D-Ma.), and
National Organization for Women
President Judy Goldsmith.
—Lou CIL:Mar° Jr.

-
December 14, 1984 • Vol. 15, No. 50
-
750 Outside of D.C./Baltimore Areas
THE GAY WEEKLY OF THE NATION'S CAPITAL
Ask As. Ago 11 Ilk AIM
11/111VP'S.116-'411111111111MLIIPLAINIIIM111111 1111\11P.7.11111111111
' GI ND I ill ! I 1111 ....11111111111L 11111 I= WI A I III 111.
Opponents dominate
Alexandria hearing
by Mark Sciitt
ALEXANDRIA, VA—More than 40
people signed up to testify before the
Alexandria Human Rights Commission last
night on whether the commission should
recommend that the,City Council adopt
non-discrimination protections for Gays
and Lesbians.
The majority of the 100 people who
attended the public hearing at City Hall
appeared to be opposed to including sexual
orientation in the human rights ordinance.
"If-we, in our city, put our approval on
such blatant sin, we will invoke the wrath of
God," said Alexandria resident Vicky
Garrett, drawing applause. Lawrence Pratt,
whti identified himself as a member of the
ComMittee to Protect the Family, said,
"Viewing homosexual rights as a civil rights
issue is a mistake. It is not a civil rights issue,
its a public health crisis?'
But others, including a -minister-and a
former human rights commission member, -
said Council should adopt the Gay. rights
protections.
"Ignorance about the nature of
community," said Rev. Rob Vaughn, pastor
of Alexandria's Beverly Hills United
Methodist Church. "Homosexual persons,
no less than heterosexual persons, are
persons of sacred worth. All persons are
entitled to have their full civil rights
confirmed."
The Coniinission will decide by next
month whether to recommend the changes
to Council. Last night's public hearing came
a month after the commission issued its
study on anti-Gay discrimination in the city.
That study revealed that most of the 107
Lesbians and Gay men polled in Alexandria
said they never experienced discrimination
of any kind based on their sexual
orientation. Close to one-fifth of the
respondents encountered discrimination in
seeking routine health care, restaurant
service, hotel or motel accommodations, or
in buying or renting a home. A majority of
the respondents, however, said they are not
openly Gay.
As of Blade deadline time, 15 people had
testified before the 12 commission members
present for the hearing. Five testified for the
homosexuality is prevalent in our bill, ten testified against.
Baltimore group targets
City Councilmember
-by Mark Scoft
Baltimore Lesbian and Gay activists
announced this week that they will picket
outside a City Council member's home
Sunday to demonstrate their anger over
Council's continued refusal to take action
on the long-delayed Gay rights bill.
Mardie Walker, co-coordinator of the
Baltimore Civil Rights Coalition for
CC187, which is spearheading support for
the bill, will gather Outside the home of
Councilmember Rikki Spector, an
outspoken opponent of the bill.
"We picked Spector," said Walker,
"because when we did a survey of Council,
she said she would vote for the bill, and now
she is one of the most vocal opponents. We
felt she should know better."
The bill, which would ban-anti-Gay
discrimination in employment, public
accommodations, education, and city
services, has been stuck in a Council
Apartheid protest forming 6
State Dept. OK on immigrants 6
Interview with David Leavitt ____ 19
MCC's Tgntasticks' success 19
Holiday family survival guide 23
subcommittee since May. Despite intensive
lobbying, Walker and Gay lobbyist Curt
Decker have been unable to persuade a
majority of the 19-member Council to
pledge support for the bill.
On December 3, Walker and about 25
activists disrupted a Council meeting
charging that Councilmember Tom Waxter
was deliberately stalling the bill in his
committee. Waxter denied the charge,
saying the bill does not yet have enough
support to pass, but Walker said she would
continue the public demonstration tactics if
the bill was not brought out of committee
for a vote by December 10. •
Council took no action on the bill at its
December 10 meeting.
"This [picketing of Spector's home] is an
escalation on our part which could
backfire," Walker said, "but we were just
tired of being rugs. This was the only thing
we could do that would not be illegal or
violent"
Decker said a strategy meeting between
him and Waxter last week was "just more of
the same—who we need and who we don't
have and so _forth."
Waxter made no promises to bring the
bill out by a certain date, Decker said.
Demos' Auction raises $6000
Washington Redskins football tickets
and an autographed copy of an enlarged
political cartoon of vice presidential
candidate Geraldine Ferraro were
among the most hotly contested items
sold at the annual fund-raising auction of
the National Association of Gay and
Lesbian Democratic Clubs, held
December 6 at Herb's Restaurant.
The auction drew over 180 people
and sold merchandise and services
amounting to about $7,500, according to
Jim Bennett, chairman of the auction.
Bennett said the National Association
made slightly more than $6,000 in profit
from the event
So pleased are the officials of the Gay
111011111111110Mmarmilmm..
Democratic activist Deacon Maccubbin volunteered his servkes as auctioneer at
last week's successful fund-raiser for the National Association IAGay and Lesbian
Democratic Clubs.
weekend stays at guest houses in Key
West, Florida.
Other items sold at the auction were a
45-minute consultation with a
psychologist, a framed copy of the
federal Gay rights bill, membership in a
video film club, two hours of
professional design and architectural
services by Uzzolo Design Services of
Washington, a Queen Ann style teapot
in pewter, and a set of six apertif glasses
from Bavaria.
The Ferraro cartoon, which was
framed and signed by the Congress-woman
from Queens, New York, drew
shouts and a furious waving of arms by
Gay men and Lesbians who answered
The National Association's executive committee
met in Fort Lauderdale last weekend.
—See story, page 5
Democrats' association over the sums
of the auction, said association co-chair
Jack Trujillo, that the group plans to
train its member clubs in various parts of
the country to sponsor similar auctions
on a regular basis.
Bennett said the main attraction of the
auction is the variety and novelty of the
merchandise and services, which are
donated by contributors and placed up
for bids by professional auctioneers, who
also donate their time and skilLs.
Among the services sold at the event,
for example, were lunches with several
members of Congress, a professional
body massage, a two-hour computer
consultation, and seven-night and
the calls from the auctioneer. The
cartoon was sold for $240.
Competition was equally intense for a
pair of tickets to the Washington
Redskins December 16 game against the
St. Louis Cardinals, which included free
parking. The tickets, donated by D.C.
City Councilwoman Betty Ann Kane,
were sold for $200.
Among the notables who agreed to
have lunch with auction participants
who placed the highest bid were
Representatives Julian Dixon (D-Ca.),
Henry Waxman (D-Ca.), Gerry Studds
(1)-Ma.), Barney Frank (D-Ma.), and
National Organization for Women
President Judy Goldsmith.
—Lou CIL:Mar° Jr.